Nike named David M. Denton its new chief financial officer on Tuesday, hiring the Pfizer finance chief to help steer the world’s largest sportswear company through a turnaround that executives have called slower than they hoped.
Denton, 60, will start on Aug. 17 as executive vice president and CFO. He replaces Matthew Friend, who has held the role since 2020 and worked at Nike since 2009. Friend will stay on through Sept. 4 to help with the handover and will join the company’s fourth quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call on June 30, as planned.
The hire is the latest big personnel move under Chief Executive Officer Elliott Hill, who took the top job in October 2024 after Nike’s board pushed out John Donahoe. Hill has been rebuilding the company around sport, sneakers and running, rebuilding ties with wholesale partners that had been cut under his predecessor, and shaking up divisions including marketing and product innovation.
“Dave is a proven public-company CFO who knows how to help great consumer brands operate with discipline and invest to win,” Hill said in the company’s statement. “We’re focused on doing what Nike does best: serving athletes, leading with sport and building the most innovative products in the world.”
In a memo to employees reviewed by Bloomberg, Hill was more candid about where Nike stands. “It’s clear we’re on the right path, but we also know there is more work ahead,” he wrote. “We need to continue to move faster, stay close to athletes and consumers, and be better and more consistent in how we operate. Dave will help us do that.”
A finance chief with a long resume
Denton brings more than three decades of experience inside large public companies. He has been Pfizer’s CFO since May 2022. Before that, he was CFO at Lowe’s from 2018 to 2022, and he spent roughly twenty years at CVS Health, including a stint as its CFO, where he helped guide the drugstore chain into a broader health services business.
He also has boardroom experience. Denton previously served on the boards of Haleon, the consumer health company, from 2023 to 2024, and Tapestry, the parent of Coach and Kate Spade, from 2014 to 2023. He is expected to join the board of Honeywell Aerospace after that business is spun off from Honeywell.
His Nike pay package is sizable. According to a regulatory filing, Denton will earn a base salary of $1.45 million, with a target annual bonus of 120 percent of that figure and a long-term incentive award targeted at $11.5 million per year.
“Nike is one of the world’s great brands, with extraordinary strengths in sport, innovation, and global scale,” Denton said in the statement. “I’m excited to partner with Elliott and the leadership team to support the company’s priorities, invest with discipline, and help deliver sustainable long-term value as Nike continues to lead with sport and serve athletes around the world.”
A turnaround still in motion
Runners have been watching Nike’s reset closely. Hill, a Nike veteran who came out of retirement to take the CEO job, has tried to refocus the brand on athletic performance and on the specialty running stores it had drifted away from. Nike has improved North America sales since he arrived and, according to Bloomberg, has “reinvigorated its running business.” But the company is still working through high inventory and soft demand in Greater China, and growth at the Converse brand remains weak.
Nike’s stock has fallen 33 percent so far this year through Tuesday’s close.
In March, Friend and Hill told investors the turnaround was moving more slowly than they had expected. Tuesday’s CFO announcement is part of what Morningstar analyst David Swartz described as a broader overhaul, according to Reuters.
“There has been massive house cleaning at Nike since Hill came in as CEO,” Swartz said. “The many executive changes reflect Nike’s struggles over the past few years and the slow pace of the turnaround.” A change at CFO was disappointing, he added, but it does not necessarily mean Nike’s business is getting worse.
Other analysts framed the move more positively. Jefferies analysts led by Randal Konik wrote that the turnaround “is progressing on a thoughtful, sequenced basis under Hill, with the right operators being installed at the right time.”
Hill struck a similar tone in the company’s statement. “This is a natural moment for a leadership transition as we move from foundational actions to sustained growth through our Sport Offense operating model,” he said. He thanked Friend for his service and credited him with helping ensure a smooth handover.
Nike said the CFO change was not the only adjustment to its leadership. The role of Chief Communications Officer Michael Gonda has been expanded to also include strategy, according to Hill’s memo.
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